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2013-04-30 - Path of the Spider
It's rare that Peter isn't busy with either school work or Spider-Man, but this would be one of those ocassions, the young man has actually managed to find himself out with Aunt May. A simple shopping trip, it's the hunt for a gift that leads May to lead Peter into the strange store, glancing around the room as he enters May quickly falls into checking out some of the stranger items on the shelves. The shop is not too big and actually Peter and May are the only customers at this time. The Skull with the blackened silver inlays Aunt May chuckles about seems to watch Peter with its hollow eyesockets, but it might be more the silver spider with the red ruby body entrapped in the marmelade jar on top of a shelf that might be of Peter's interest. Or is it the small goblin-like statue from brown limesone that rests on a brazzen tray somwehere in the leftmost shelf? Maybe even one of the scrolls, from which a small piece of string hangs down, holding a label wich reads something in japanese? At least until a slight voice from the back is noticeable. "The Parkers, am I right?" comes a quite young voice - especially considderig her real age. "You found anything of Interest?" Peter's attention is caught by the spider and the goblin in turn, yet he shakes away both lines of thought as he hears a voice. His attention turns towards the voice, offering a faintly thoughtful frown Peter nods to the woman. "We're the Parkers... Have we met before?" Slowly a woman emerged from behind the curtain, just as Peter answered "Oh, I doubt it, but I have quite an intuition when it comes to people entering my shop." Madame Xanadu answers with a chuckle. "I see your Aunt has found an interest in the Skull of Raschid ad-Din Sinan. Or at least it is believed to be his." the woman explains, walking over to carefully brush a hand over it. "But it is sadly not for sale." Peter nods slowly as Aunt May steps away from the skull in question. She looks at Xanadu with a slightly surprised expression. "Ah well, I really hadn't been planning to buy it. I'm looking for something for a friends grandaughter... She's a lovely girl and her birthdays coming up. She always had an interest in magic." Peter for his part nods with a faint smile. "I think something uh simple and decorative is more what my aunt's looking for. The woman chuckles slightly "oh, you think along the lines of a dreamcatcher or something?" Madame Xanadu asks to Peter, looking over her shelves and pulling out a ring of thin wood, which is holding a net from thin, glittering webbing. Just like a spider's web. "Did you know, that the indians say, that the first of these were made from the silk of a godly spider-spirit to capture all the dreams and just let the good ones down to the dreamer, but keep the bad ones entrapped so they vanish in the light of the morning sun?" She explains, turning it in the hands. Actual eagle feathers hang from the difficile work. "Or did your eye catch something more interesting, Mister Parker?" Peter blinks slightly as he notices the dreamcatcher. "I think that'd be perfect." He seems to consider the story a minute. "Spiders? I never knew that." He shakes his head a little. "I'm afraid that I wouldn't even know what I'm looking at with most of this stuff." He shrugs a sheepish shoulder. The woman chuckles a bit, pointing around "I doubt most people do. But maybe you want to take a look at something else before deciding on something? I can help you find something if you can describe what you seek." Aunt May comes over and looks at the dream catcher. She smiles faintly to Peter and then to Xanadu. "It's lovely... Maybe should see about getting one of the spiders as well then? I'd be able to tell her the story... I'm sure it would impress her." She looks at Peter with a wide grin. "What do you think Peter." For his part Peter offers Aunt May a grin and a nod. "I think that's a great idea Aunt May." Madame Xanadu eyes around the shop, her eyes stopping at the one spider in the Jar "I am afraid that the only spider I have here is not of native american origin, but is a dreadful Kumo. Unless you mean an ordinary spider like it is found in every corner of the house." She explains, tipping against the Jar with the jewlery - which jumps bakwards on the touch of its glass. Very much alive. "And i don't usually give away demons." Aunt May takes a slight jump at the spider's movements. Peter for his part simply seems fascinated. His attention turning to Xanadu, a faintly thoughtful frown forming as he studies her. "A demon? Uh, I don't think we'll be needing any demons." It's not like he doesn't have enough trouble in his life as it is right? The odd shopkeeper just smiles on that answer "Which is all too well, as there are not too many good reasons to ask for one. But even then, it is always worth to learn about things. Odd things have something in common sometimes." Arching an eyebrow Peter nods slowly. "Yeah, I've seen my share of odd things... Can't say I've ever seen a /demon/ spider before. But..." He shrugs a shoulder. "So, why not hide the demon spider where no one can get at it if you don't plan to sell it and all?" Madame Xanadu snickers a bit as she taps the glass again, then pointing along the shelves. "Someone needs to watch the shop while I am in the back and it is not that this Kumo is there without a guard. But of all the strange goods here you seem to be most interested in a piece of possesed jewlery on the shape of a spider most. Arachnophilia is something not too common these days, where Arachnophobia is much more common." Laughing Peter shrugs. "I'm a scientist. Anyone who studies biology has to admire spiders. They're amazing animals... Just like fearing them seems equally reasonable, considering how many can kill." He shakes his head thougthfully. "I guess its not hard to believe that the two traits don't need to be mutually exclusive." Madame Xanadu nods slowly pulling a book from the shelfs "And spiders are very very present in spiritism. Spider gods are not too uncommon as are demons. The asabikeshiinh or dreamcatcher is named after it, as it is said to be made from the threads of mother spider to guard her children's sleep. The wicked Kumo is said to feed on humans, but the Moche worshipped spiders as the incarnation of nature itself. The Africans know the trickster spider Anansi, and Dante described in his Inferno Arachne, a beasthalf human and half spider, which is even older and described by Ovid. Even in Egypt they had a spider deity that weaves destiny, Neith, and the Navajo even deem Grandmother Spider the one who created earth. So tell me mister Parker, what is a spider?" Peter seems to listen to all this with insterest. The question however gets a thoughtful frown. "I don't follow... I mean are you asking beyond their being air breathing air-breathing arthropods and the largest order of Arachnid?" He shrugs a shoulder. Madame Xanadu nods slowly "Allthese deities and demons have something in common. Not with the actual spiders nessecarily, but withwhat people see in them. They fear them or worship them, but what is so to say the path of the spider all these have in common? Can you tell?" To Be Concluded